First Snow
by legalliz
Summary: It's the first snow of the year, and Stephanie Plum's in for a few surprises.


_A/N: It snowed, it's cold, and my toddler thinks all that white stuff is pure magic. So, I decided to bring a little of that magic to Trenton. Enjoy! (Maybe even with a mug of stove-top hot chocolate :) )_

I was pulled out of a deep sleep by one of those "something's off" kind of feelings. I lifted my head ever so slightly from my pillow and listened for a moment before slumping back into its feathery softness. Whatever it was, it could wait until a more reasonable hour. Like noon.

I'd just burrowed deeper under my covers when something heavy landed on top of me with a crumpled thump. I growled into my mattress and tossed back my covers in a disgruntled rage.

"Alright, who has a death wish this morning?" I fumed.

A sweatshirt sailed through the air and smacked me in the head.

"Hey!"

"Time to get up," came a familiar voice.

I didn't have to let my eyes adjust in the darkness to know who was standing over by my closet. The knowledge didn't cure my grumpy disposition, but it did make it a little less murderous.

"What time is it," I grumbled, searching for my phone on the nightstand.

"Quarter to five."

"Quarter to five? Are you insane? I don't do five. Or six. Or seven. Sometimes I don't even do anything classified as morning. And I'm pretty sure we've been over this before. Many times, in fact."

"You've got bills, and I need your help," he said tossing a few more clothing items my direction.

"Sorry," I said as I shoved the pile off my bed. "I only worry about bills and do the 'help' thing at reasonable hours." I pulled the covers back over my head.

They didn't stay there long. The next thing I knew, I was completely uncovered, and my pajama pants were being tossed in a heap on the floor.

"Hey!"

Ranger reached for my shirt. On any other morning, getting undressed by Ranger would probably be a cause for celebration. Unfortunately his focus this morning seemed more to the tune of getting me _out_ of bed rather than back into it.

"I can dress myself, thank you very much," I huffed in protest, batting his hands away.

Ranger took a step back. "You have five minutes," he said before heading back out of my bedroom.

"Five minutes," I grumbled. "Five minutes to lock my door and shove my dresser in front of it."

"Wouldn't advise it, babe," Ranger called from the living room. Stupid supersonic hearing…

I muttered some creative cursing and flipped him the bird from the safety of my room as I pulled on the pants and sweatshirt from the pile on the floor. Then I made a quick stop in the bathroom before dragging my sleep-deprived zombie form out into the living room.

Ranger was sitting on my outdated couch doing something productive on his phone. He glanced up when he heard me approach.

"Babe."

"Hey, I warned you, I don't do mornings."

"Maybe some coffee will help." He handed me a to-go cup that was still warm. "And you'll probably want these." He nodded toward a heavy jacket, boots, and other assorted cold weather gear gathered on the couch.

I raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you need my help with this morning?"

"It snowed last night."

"And?"

"Some clients need help clearing walkways."

I made a face. "Last time I checked, you specialized in security not snow removal."

Ranger tossed me the jacket. "Seasonal Rangeman perk."

"Of course."

I pulled on the jacket, the boots, and the hat. Ranger's mouth twitched into one of his classic almost-smiles.

"Cute."

"I feel like the stay-puffed marshmallow guy," I muttered, trying to pat down some of my newly added girth.

Ranger leaned over and kissed me. "And almost as sweet."

I jabbed a finger into his chest. "Don't press your luck, mister. You owe me big for this."

He playfully tugged on a stray curl near my face. "I think I've got a few ideas how I can make it up to you."

I frowned. "Unless your _ideas_ involve the sleep that you've deprived me of, I can tell you right now that you're barking up the wrong tree."

He grabbed the collar of my jacket and pulled me closer to him. "Let's see if you still feel that way in a few hours," he whispered seductively before kissing me. My toes curled as a surge of heat flashed to all my favorite places. I did a mental sigh. So much for my grumpy disposition.

 _A few hours later…_

I climbed into the black Explorer and tried kicking off the excess snow from my boots before swinging them onto the already-soaked floor mat.

"It'll dry, babe," Ranger said as he angled himself in on the driver's side. "If not, I'll just buy new ones." I rolled my eyes, and he flashed me one of his playful grins.

"Please tell me that was our last stop," I sighed in exhaustion. "I'm not sure I can scoop up even one more shovel-full of snow."

He pat my knee. "Just one more house," he said as he pulled out into the street.

We drove in silence for a while until my internal thoughts finally demanded an external outlet.

"It's a nice thing that you do for your clients…and all the not-clients too," I said stealing a glance his direction.

He shrugged. "I've been shoveling snow since I was seven. People seem to appreciate it."

"Are the other guys out shoveling this morning too?" I asked.

"Most of them."

"So why'd you recruit me? If anything, I think I slowed down your whole snow-clearing operation."

He smirked. "Figured you wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to dress up like the stay-puffed marshmallow guy."

I narrowed my eyes. "Ha. Ha."

"Don't worry. You look more like Rudolph right now anyway."

I smacked him in the shoulder. "I can't help what my nose does when it's cold outside."

A short while later, we pulled up to a small house in a quiet residential neighborhood across town. Ranger walked around the Explorer to help me out of the vehicle.

Then he handed me my shovel. "Last house," he reiterated, kissing my red nose.

I sighed and set to work.

My arms were jelly and my fingers were numb by the time the walkway was finally clear. Ranger came and grabbed my shovel and tossed it along with his into the back of the Explorer. I slumped onto the porch steps.

"Hopefully the owner doesn't mind me sitting here," I mumbled. "I don't think I can move."

"He doesn't mind," Ranger grinned.

I glanced at the house then back at Ranger. "One of yours?"

He nodded. "Want to go in and warm up for a while?"

I searched his face for the usual hint of innuendo, but eventually decided that I was too wet and frozen to really care. "Sure," I shrugged as Ranger pulled me back onto my feet.

The house was small and simple. No doubt one of the safe houses that was part of the whole Rangeman security network. But this one felt a little homier than some of the others I'd seen. The colors were soft neutrals with the occasional black or burgundy accents. It gave off an uncharacteristically cozy vibe.

I took a seat on the leather couch in the living room. "You're sure this is one of yours?" I asked, still taking in my surroundings.

Ranger kicked off his boots in the entry way. "Why? Don't like it?"

"Just seems a bit…different is all."

"You mean less minimalist. More home-like."

"Yeah, something like that, I guess."

"We've used it for some of our guests who've gone through more traumatic experiences. It's pretty new though. Only had it a year or so."

I glanced across the living room. "The fireplace is nice."

He smiled. "Thought you might like that."

My eyes narrowed. "Why am I starting to get the feeling that all of this was planned?"

"Controlling the weather's not one of my super powers, babe."

I gave him a look. "Not the snow. The house."

He shrugged, but with a hint of mischief behind his eyes. "How about you go take a nice, hot shower, and I'll see what I can do about finding some food."

"Trying to distract me with one of my favorite things can only work for so long. You're _going_ to tell me sooner or later what it is you think you're up to."

He walked me down the hall and gave me a playful shove into the master bedroom. "Keep it up, babe, and I might have to stop playing the gentleman here."

I put my hands on my hips. "You call _this_ playing the gentleman?"

He took a quick step toward me like he was going to tackle me, so I gave a sharp, squeak in defeat before racing off toward the bathroom.

The shower was perfect. It steamed me to heated perfection, and someone was even considerate enough to stock the place with my favorite shower gel. Another clear indicator that maybe this little early-morning outing had been more planned than I initially thought.

I pulled on the sweat pants that were conveniently waiting for me in the bedroom and grabbed my sweatshirt before padding back out to the living room. A fire was going in the fireplace, and Ranger was cooking up something in the kitchen that smelled nothing short of amazing. It was probably because I was practically starved from all the energy I'd exerted shoveling all that snow. Regardless, I was pretty excited. My excitement was further confirmed a moment later by a hearty growl from my stomach.

Ranger stood in the kitchen doorway and shook his head. "Guess it's time to feed the beast."

He disappeared around the corner and came back with two steaming plates of breakfast food. Eggs, bacon, pancakes. I figured I must have died and gone to heaven.

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Where's all the moss and berries? This stuff looks way too unhealthy for something coming out of your kitchen."

He handed me a plate. "The bacon's nitrate-free turkey, eggs are egg whites only, and the pancakes are multigrain."

I frowned. "Let me guess, our syrup is sugar free too."

He shook his head. "Syrup's the real deal. Straight up maple from Vermont."

I took a bite and moaned. Yep, definitely the real deal. Wow, for something moderately healthy, this breakfast wasn't half bad.

Ranger watched me as I tried everything on the plate, making various sounds of approval as I went along. After an amused shake of his head, he eventually started in on his own breakfast.

Once I'd thoroughly cleaned my plate, I had seconds on the pancakes and snuggled into the couch as I watched the whitewashed world outside. The snow had started falling again, large puffy flakes against the window. It was nothing short of magical with the crackling fire, the lumberjack breakfast, and a comfy pair of sweats.

Not to mention the company.

I suddenly realized that while I had been distracted by all the snow, Ranger had disappeared again. He came back a few minutes later with two steaming mugs of something that smelled even better than the breakfast we'd just finished.

"My mom used to make a big deal about the first snow," Ranger stated quietly as he handed me a mug. "Sometimes I'd wake up to find her just standing at the kitchen window, steaming coffee in hand, watching all those snowflakes float down from the sky. Then she'd bundle up all the kids, and we'd spend those first few hours decimating our tiny yard with snow forts, snowballs, and snowmen. It was always exciting and magical when I was young."

For someone who typically kept his past locked up in an iron-clad vault, the moment of reminiscing was unusually personal. Like he'd somehow invited me to time jump with him back to his childhood kitchen to watch the snow come down. I didn't want to ruin the moment, so I busied myself with sipping at my beverage.

"Wow! What is _this_? It's…" I took another sip. "It's…wow!"

He took a sip of his own. "Secret recipe."

"But my taste buds must be lying to me. It tastes like some variation on…hot chocolate?"

"Can't have a first snow without hot chocolate," he grinned.

"But _you_? _You_ drink this stuff?"

"Just one cup a year. I make it on the stove just like my mom used to."

So _that's_ why it tasted so good. My hot chocolate usually came from an easy-tear packet from a box. And the only variations I ever dabbled with were using milk instead of water or doubling up on the packets.

Ranger's hot chocolate tasted dark with a hint of perfectly blended spices. Complex and deep. Mysterious. Just like the man.

"Thanks for dragging me out of bed this morning," I said. "And for sharing all of this with me."

Ranger took a seat on the couch and wrapped his arm around me. Then we simply sat and watched the snow.


End file.
